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ALFALFA 



GROWING for SEED AND HAY 




Copyright 1910 

BIBDSELL MANUFACTURING CO. 

South Bend, Ind. 

Manufactnrers of Alfalfa and Clover Hnllers, Automatic Feeders, 

Wind Stackers, Farm and Freight Wagons. 






©:i.A258042 



$3 



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ALFALFA 



By J. M. WESTGATE. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



Alfalfa has been cultivated for many years in the irrigated 
sections of the United States, where it is by far the most important 
forage crop grown. Although it is one of the staple forage crops 
of every continent on the Globe, it is only within comparatively 
recent years that its culture has been taken up in many portions 
of the United States that are now proving adapted to its growth. 

The history of the spread of alfalfa is interesting. The Persian 
armies carried it with them when they invaded Greece in about 490 
B. C. The Arabs also raised, it extensively and in fact the name 
"alfalfa" is the old Arabic term meaning "the best fodder". From 
Greece it spread successively to Italy and Spain, and finally to 
Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. From Mexico it was 
soon carried to the South American countries. It was taken from 
Chile to San Francisco in 1851. From there it has spread rapidly 
to all the irrigated portions of the West. Within the past 20 years 
it has proved successful in the Great Plains region, where irrigation 
is not possible, and where the reduced rainfall is insufficient for the 
production of the ordinary tame grasses which thrive in the East- 
ern States. By the adoption of suitable methods of dry farming 
successful crops of alfalfa are also being produced in some of the 
non-irrigated sections of the mountainous region of the West. 

The value of leguminous crops both as feed and soil improvers 
has been recognized throughout historic times, but so far is practice 
behind theory that much remains to be accomplished in the way 



of the extension before every farmer makes the best use of such 
leguminous crops. 

The early attempts at its introduction dating back as far as 
1750 show the East to have been the pioneer in its introduction in 
the United States. It has been grown scatteringly for more than a 
century in the limestone sections from New York southward to 
Texas. The varied attempts with alfalfa were made under many 
difficulties and most of them met with failure. It is especially in 
sections of light rainfall that it shows its superiority over red clover 
and timothy. The interest of the East in Alfalfa is of concern to the 
Western farmer in that it annually calls for large amounts of alfalfa 
seed, which can be produced only in the Western States. So great 
is the importance of alfalfa throughout the West that the whole 
farming system is built up in reference to the harvesting and curing 
of this crop. As the yield of each cutting runs froiii one to two tons 
per acre it is obvious that a large field of alfalfa requires the major 
part of the farmer's time to care for the three or four cuttings 
of hay usually obtained. 



DISTRIBUTION OF ALFALFA IN THE UNITED STATES 

According to the accompanying map, which was compiled from 
data secured from the census of 1899, the general distribution of 
the large alfalfa growing sections is indicated. Each dot represents 
one thousand acres in the county where the dot is located. For this 
reason, only the large alfalfa producing sections are dotted, as 
counties having less than one thousand acres are not marked. 




Fig. 1. — Map of the United States, showing the distribution of alfalfa 
in 1899. (Westgate— Farmers' Bui. 339. U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



In the irrigated sections of the West, the production of alfalfa 
has greatly increased, especially where new areas have been thrown 
open to irrigation. The extension of alfalfa in the eastern half of 
the country has been so great that there is probably three times as 
much alfalfa being grown as there was ten years ago. Its rapid 
extension in the Great Plains region is indicated by the fact that in 
Kansas the assessors' reports in 1891, when alfalfa was first listed 
separately, showed 34,384 acres, while in 1907 there were 743,050 
acres reported. Advance reports for the Fall of 1909 indicate ap- 
proximately 1,000,000 acres in Kansas for the year 1909. 

In the arid regions of the western half of the country, on the 
areas which have been brought under cultivation in the last ten 
years, alfalfa has been extensively planted. In the eastern half 
of the country the limestone sections offer the best prospects for 
the successful production of alfalfa. The limestone regions around 
Lake Champlain, and in Central New York are producing successful 
results. The limestone valleys of Maryland and Virginia, and the 
black prairie soils of Alabama and Mississippi are also proving 
adapted to alfalfa and offer good possibilities for farmers who are 
acquainted with the production of alfalfa in the West. The Eastern 
States call for a large amount of alfalfa seed from the West, and 
the chances of success with alfalfa in the East increase greatly as 
the special requirements for its production are understood and 
provided for. 



DESCRIPTION OF ALFALFA. 



The Western farmer needs no description of this well-known 
plant. The accompanying illustration, however, indicates its gen- 
eral appearance. 

Alfalfa may briefly be described as being a deep-rooted, long- 
lived, herbaceous forage plant belonging to the same family as do 
the peas and beans. Its clover-shaped flowers are purple or violet 
in color and are borne in clusters from an inch to an inch and a 
half long. The pods are small and are quite tightly coiled in two 
or three spirals. The seeds are kidney-shaped and about one-twelfth 
of an inch long, and each pod contains several seeds. 

One important characteristic of alfalfa is its long tap root. 
A specimen was on exhibition at the Chicago exposition which had 
a root thirty-three feet long. This had been produced in Colorado. 
The long tap-root enables the plant to reach the deep-lying plant 
food in the soil which is not available to the ordinary shallow- 
rooted crops. The long root system is also of importance in sectioiis 
of limited rainfall, as by this means the plant is able to withstand 
severe droughts, which might otherwise be injurious. The extensive 
root system also enables the plant to respond quickly after cutting 
and produce several successive crops during the course of the 
season. 




Fig. 2. — Alfalfa Plant in Early Bloom. 
(Westgate — Farmers' Bui. 339. U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



The wide distribution of alfalfa throughout the world indicates 
its remarkable adaptability to different climates and conditions. So 
far as climate is concerned, alfalfa can be grown in every State in 
the Union. It is, however, very exacting in the humid sections in 
the Eastern part of the United States as to soil conditions and treat- 
ment. It is grown below the sea level in southern California, and 
also at an altitude exceeding eight thousand feet in the Rocky 
Mountains. Under proper irrigation it yields abundant crops in the 
deserts of Arizona, where the climate is practically as hot as any- 
where in the world. The hardier strains are also able to withstand 
the severe winters of the north central states, where the thermometer 
may fall as low as fifty degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. It succeeds 
without irrigation where the rainfall is only fourteen inches a year, 
and also in the portions of the Gulf States where the annual rainfall 
may reach as high as sixty-five inches. A rainfall of thirty-six 
inches a year is ample for this crop, and an amount in excess of 
this is usually a detriment. About twenty-four inches a year is best 
for seed producing purposes. 

The young plants are not especially adapted to withstand alkali, 
although old plants will stand as much as any of the ordinary 
cultivated crops. 

The natural conditions in the "West are much more favorable 
to the production of alfalfa than are the conditions in the eastern 
part of the country. 

6 



SOIL REQUIREMENTS OF ALFALFA. 

It is necessary in the East to exercise great care in the selec- 
tion of soil for the prospective alfalfa field, but in the Western 
half of the United States most of the ordinary fields are well suited 
to its growth. In the East a deep, fertile, well drained soil, rich 
in lime and reasonably free from weeds is necessary. The lack cf 
any one of these essentials is very apt to be the cause of failure. In 
the West, however, it is necessarj'- only to ascertain that soil is 
fertile enough to grow the ordinary farm crops, and is deep enough 
to provide for the necessary deep-growing alfalfa roots. It is also 
essential that the soil be not too alkaline, as the young plants will 
not stand a large excess of alkali in the soil. If the soil lacks depth, 
the alfalfa plant is unable to utilize its deep-feeding root system, 
and is also less able to withstand the severe droughts which occur 
in parts of the West. Alfalfa will not withstand wet feet or sour 
soil. Fortunately, however, these conditions are very rarely to 
be met with in the Western half of the country. Some care, how- 
ever, must be taken to avoid land that is subject to prolonged over- 
flows from streams. During the growing period it will not generally 
withstand more than twenty-four hours of complete submersion, 
nor more than forty-eight hours of partial overflow. During the 
winter, however, fields have been known to remain under flowing 
water for over two weeks without serious injury. Stagnant water 
is always fatal to the alfalfa plants. 



PREPARATION OF THE SEED BED. 



The tender nature of the young alfalfa plant makes it desirable 
that the soil be in good tilt at planting time. The seed bed should 
be fine on top, but firm and thoroughly settled. In the Great Plains 
area, harrowing and packing should immediately follow the plowing. 
In addition, subsurface packing is to be advised when the seeding is 
to take place within six weeks of the plowing. If the firming of 
the seed bed does not take place there will be, at the bottom of 
each furrow, a dry mass of clods which were turned down from 
the old top soil. If this condition is at hand, it is apt to result 
fatally to the young alfalfa plants, as their roots can not usually 
puncture this mass of dry clods and air spaces. When the plowing 
is done in the fall it is usually desirable to leave the ground com- 
paratively rough to catch the snow, and to prevent the loss of any 
rains or melting snow. This conservation of moisture is of special 
importance in the non-irrigated sections of the West, but also merits 
attention, even where there is water for irrigation. It is important 
that the preparation of the soil be uniformly good, as the poorly 
prepared spots are apt to fail and these bare places form the center 
from which weeds may spread and eventually destroy the stand. 
Summer-fallowing is often practiced in the semi-arid sections to 



conserve sufficient moisture for the germination of the seed at 
planting time. This method is also effective in any section for 
ridding the ground of weeds. It may be practiced with good results 
in humid sections where late summer seeding is desirable, but 
where droughts are apt to occur at this time. 



PREPARATION OF SANDY GROUND FOR ALFALFA. 



It is quite difficult to establish alfalfa on soils that are so 
sandy as to drift when bare. On such soils the young unprotected 
alfalfa plants are very apt to be cut off by the drifting sand unless 
special precautions are taken. This danger may be avoided by 
applying a light top dressing of straw or horse manure just after 
seeding. This may be disked in with a disk set straight to imbed 
the straw so that there will not be any shifting of the covering. 
The disk should be run at right angles to the direction of the 
prevailing wind. Another method is to drill the alfalfa into the 
high-cut stubble of cane, kafir corn or millet. Still another method 
is to seed the alfalfa in a thin young stand of small grain, such as 
oats, which makes a rapid, early growth, and thus protects the 
alfalfa plants. Fortunately, these areas are usually quite limited 
in extent, but where they do occur, the problem of starting alfalfa 
is a serious one, and merits most careful attention, as when once 
established the stand is usually a permanent success. 



SELECTION OF SEED. 



Other things being equal, Northern grown seed should be used 
as the seed produced in the Northern alfalfa districts is very suc- 
cessful, but the Southern grown seed is apt to lack in hardiness, 
should it be seeded in the North. It is usually desirable to secure 
samples from several sources, and test them as to germination and 
purity before purchasing. The germination test may be made quite 
easily by counting out one or two hundred seeds and placing them 
in the home-made tester, consisting of two plates or saucers and two 
damp cloths or pieces of blotting paper. 

Since the demand for alfalfa seed in this country has for some 
time exceeded the supply, there is, as a consequence, very little old 
seed on the market. 

The securing of particularly fresh seed is not of as vital im- 
portance as the securing of seed free from bad weeds, as alfalfa 
seed usually retains a satisfactory germination for from five to 
seven years. (The loss of vitality due to age is usually indicated 
by the seed turning a reddish brown.) The greatest care should 
be taken to get the seed free from dangerous weeds. The weed seeds 



most apt to be present in alfalfa seed are shown in the accompanying 
drawing. 




Fig. 3.- — Seeds of alfalfa and common impurities. (Enlarged; 
natural size at the right.) A, alfalfa; B, yellow trefoil; C, sweet clover; 
D, buckhorn; E, wild carrot; F, wild chicory; G, curled dock; H, large- 
seeded dodder; I, small-seeded dodder. (Westgate — Farmer's Bui. 339, 
U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



It is generally a^vvisable if possible to order the samples the 
winter before seeding, as it is often impossible in the rush season 
just before seeding to purchase seed from the same lot from which 
the samples were ordered. Some seed firms will book orders for 
seeds subject to satisfactory germination and purity tests. This 
practice should be more common, however, than it is at present, 
and would doubtless become more general if there was a sufficient 
demand for it on the part of the American farmer. In the great 
alfalfa producing sections of the West, the seed such as produced 
in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and Utah has been 
found to give excellent results in comparative tests including 
alfalfas from all parts of the world. The Turkestan alfalfa is quite 
cold resistant and will sometimes do better than the ordinary 
alfalfa in the semi-arid sections. The sand lucerne, which has to 
be imported from Germany and Bohemia, is both drouth and cold 
resistant, and is a more vigorous grower than is the Turkestan 
alfalfa. The Grimm alfalfa, of Minnesota, is also very hardy and 
cold resistant. These special strains of alfalfa, however, are usually 
to be recommended only in sections where the ordinary alfalfa 
fails, by reason of drouth or cold, and it must be borne in mind that 
even the most drouth resistant alfalfas are relatively slightly su- 
perior to the ordinary strains. There is yet to be discovered the 



alfalfa that will grow without irrigation in desert sections. The 
dry land alfalfa, of Utah, is also to be included in the list of alfalfas 
that are slightly more drouth resistant than the ordinary alfalfa 
of the irrigated sections. 



TIME OF SEEDING ALFALFA. 



Alfalfa may usually be seeded any time that the ground is not 
frozen, and successful germination will be obtained. The extreme 
variation in climate and other conditions, however, usually make 
one or at most two months of the year the best for any particular 
locality. In the extreme North, late spring seeding is necessary, 
owing to the danger of winter killing of the small seedlings if the 
seeding is done in the late summer or fall. The Central and South- 
ern districts usually call for spring seeding, as the alfalfa plants 
are usually able to withstand the weeds of midsummer, which prove 
so destructive to the newly-seeded alfalfa fields in the East, where 
late summer seeding is necessary. South of latitude 40 and west from 
the Mississippi Eiver as far as central Kansas, seeding from the 
middle of August to the first week in September is usually success- 
ful. The general principle which should underlie the selection of 
the time of seeding is that the seedlings should be the largest possible 
size at the time when the most dangerous or critical period of their 
first year is anticipated. In the North, winter killing is the worst 
danger and hence spring seeding is to be recommended. In sections 
where winter weeds are bad, it is also desirable to seed in very early 
spring, in order to produce a good growth of plants by the time 
the weeds begin to trouble in the late fall. Where the weeds of 
midsummer constitute the worst enemy or danger, it is best to seed 
just after midsummer upon thoroughly prepared, weed freed 
ground. This makes the plants nearly a year old by the following 
midsummer when the weeds would be apt to cause trouble. Spring 
seeding with oats is good in such irrigated areas as Colorado, where 
alfalfa succeeds exceedingly well and is not subject to any great 
dangers. The accompanying illustration indicates the relative size 
of different seedings of alfalfa at the approach of winter. Spring 
seeded alfalfa would have been much larger and is to be recom- 
mended where there is no danger from midsummer weeds. 



METHODS OF SEEDING. 



The manner of seeding varies considerably in different parts 
of the country. The various methods agree in that it is necessary 
for the seed to be covered and not left exposed on the surface of 
the ground, as is often done with grasses and clovers. Alfalfa may 
be drilled or seeded broadcast either by hand or with a hand seeder 
or wheelbarrow seeder. It is an excellent plan to sow half the seed 

10 



one way across the field and the other half at right angles to the 
line of the first sowing. This insures a more even stand. The 
depth of planting varies to some extent with the soil and climatic 
conditions. Covering from three-fourths to one inch deep is usually 
sufficient on clay soil, but one and one-half inches are necessary for 
sandy soils or in the semi-arid sections, where deep covering is 
required to insure sufficient moisture for the germination of the 
seed. If the seed is sown broadcast, a light harrow weeder or brush 
may be used to cover the seed to the required depth. It is not usi^ally 
advisable to roll the soil unless it be exceptionally light, as the 
soil is more apt to become dried out before the plants have become 
well set. A smaller quantity of seed can be used when it is drilled 
than if it is seeded broadcast. If the grain drill is used the amount 
seeded may be regulated by the use of leather thongs to reduce the 
feed. 

Corn chop may be mixed with the alfalfa to secure a more even 
seeding. If a drill is used it is an excellent idea to first test it on 
hard ground, with the shoes not touching the ground. By this 
method it is possible to observe the rate at which the seed is being 
dropped, and by this method a proper regulation of the seeding can 
be secured. 



RATE OF SEEDING. 



The quantity of seed required per acre is much greater in the 
humid and irrigated sections of the country than in the semi-arid 
regions. In the West, fair stands have been secured with as little 
as from one to five pounds per acre, but this has been under particu- 
larly ideal conditions. Good stands are frequently secured from 
five pounds of seed to the acre in the drier portions of the West, 
where irrigation is not possible. A pound of ordinary alfalfa con- 
tains about 220,000 seeds. As there are 43,560 square feet in an 
acre each pound of alfalfa seeded per acre would give about five 
seeds to the square foot. Ten pounds of seed would provide fifty 
plants per square foot. Many of the seeds, however, fail to grow 
and a great portion of the young plants meet with fatal accidents. 
Old alfalfa fields have shown from one to six plants per square foot, 
and the field with but one plant per square foot producing as good 
yields as where there were six plants per square foot. 

The following recommendations as to the rate of seeding are 
made as to the different sections of the country. Atlantic and 
Southern states 24 and 28 pounds per acre. States west of the 
Appalachian Mountains and East of the Ninety-eighth meridian, 20 
to 24 pounds. Semi-arid sections, 5 to 15 pounds, depending on the 
average rainfall. In the irrigated sections, experienced growers 

usually seed about 15 pounds per acre. In all the above cases, where 
seed production is desired, it is necessary to use considerable less 
seed than when hay only is desired. A thick stand of alfalfa very 

11 




Fig. 4. — Alfalfa seedlings at the beginning of winter. 1, seeded 
August 15, 13 inches high; 2, seeded September 1, 5 1/^ inches high; 3, 
seeded September 15, 2^4 inches high. The larger, early-seeded plants 
are much better able to withstand the winter than are the small, late- 
seeded ones. (Westgate — Farmer's Bui., 339. U. S. Dept. of Agricul.) 



12 



seldom produces a good seed crop. The idea should be to get 
about one plant per square foot over the field, if good yields of 
both hay and seed are desired. It is usually safest to seed a little 
thicker than desired, and then thin the plant to the desired stand 
by disking. 



USE OF A NURSE CROP. 

In the Eastern and Southern States, and in the semi-arid sec- 
tions of the West, a nurse crop usually proves disastrous to alfalfa, 
even resulting in the ruining of the stand. In the irrigated sections 
of the "West, however, alfalfa can usually be seeded safely with a 
nurse crop such as oats. In this case, however, the alfalfa succeeds 
in spite of the nurse crop, rather than by reason of it. In the extreme 
Southwest, barley is sometimes seeded with alfalfa in the fall. 
In the States bordering on Lake Michigan, a spring seeding of barley 
is often a success as a nurse crop for alfalfa. In this section, how- 
ever, it is generally recommended that alfalfa be seeded alone in 
mid or late summer. In sandy soils a very light seeding of small 
grain as a nurse crop is sometimes used to prevent the sand from 
blowing and injuring the young plants. In all cases, the nurse crop 
when used should be cut as soon as it shows signs of injury to young 
alfalfa plants. 



INOCULATION FOR ALFALFA. 



The legumes or pod-bearing plants are different from other farm 
crops in that they normally possess a species of bacteria upon their 
roots. These bacteria, or minute organisms, are able to utilize 
the nitrogen of the air and convert it into a substance that can 
be used by not only the leguminous plant itself, but also by succeed- 
ing crops grown upon the same soil. Alfalfa is no exception and 
in fact it usually fails to succeed unless the roots are supplied with 
these bacteria which produce the nodules on the roots. Fortunately 
most of the soils of the western' half of the United States appear 
to possess these now or are so well adapted to their growth that 
what comes in the dust storms or by floods or with the seed itself, 
is enough to give the plants a start. After this, the bacteria can 
spread rapidly. In the humid sections, where the soils lack lime, 
and have a tendency to be poorly drained, artificial inoculation is 
necessary. For this purpose, soil from a successful alfalfa field or 
soil from around the roots of sweet clover may be used. The arti- 
ficial cultures are more convenient, but are not so sure as the soil 
inoculation. The latter method is open to some danger of carrying 
harmful weed seeds or plant diseases. 

13 



TREATMENT OF A STAND OF ALFALFA. 



As a usual thing a successful alfalfa field requires little treat- 
ment after seeding, other than the prompt removal of the different 
cuttings. Any delay in cutting after the next growth starts results 
unfavorably to the succeeding crops. Disking a field of mature 
alfalfa plants usually rejuvenates the stands if the disks are set 
properly so as to split the crowns rather than to cut them off. If 
the stand be too thick as it is apt to be if seed production is desired, 
the disk harrow with the disks set to cut off a portion of the crowns, 
is effective in thinning the stand. The cultivation of the ground 
seems to have a very beneficial effect upon the growth of the plants. 
If insect enemies threaten the stand it is usually best to immediately 
cut and rake off the young growth. The insects thus deprived of 
their food supply either die or move on to other quarters. 

It is also important to remove the windrows or cocks from the 
field as promptly as possible in event of rain, as the plants under- 
neath are soon smothered out and these bare places form the centers 
from which weeds may spread. Some large growers of alfalfa make 
it a practice to disk their neias lightly at least once a season. 
An implement known as an alfalfa renovator is sometimes employed 
where the ground is free from stones or gravel. This is a disk 
harrow with the disks armed with teeth as shown in the accom- 
panying illustration. 




Fig. 5. — An alfalfa harrow. (Farmers' Bui. 342. U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



14 



ALFALFA SEED PRODUCTION. 



Practically all of the alfalfa seed raised in the United States 
is produced west of the one hundredth meridian. Even in the West 
the seed production industry is apparently only in its infancy. The 
results in any particular section are usually somewhat uncertain, 
since the yield may be enough one year to pay for the land upon 
which the crop is grown and the next year it may not pay the 
expenses of harvesting the seed. A study of the general principles 
underlying the production of alfalfa seed indicates that when all 
the factors are better understood the production of a paying crop 
of seed each season will be much more uniform than at present. The 
strong demand for alfalfa seed at high prices makes this branch of 
farming operations offer one of the most promising lines of endeavor 
for all farmers situated in sections where seed production is a 
possibility. The alfalfa plant, while naturally adapted to a very 
wide range of conditions is decidedly particular as to what conditions 
must be present in order to make it produce satisfactory crops of 
seed. A great many fields of alfalfa are left for seed each season 
under conditions where seed crops are out of the question. These 
experiences are unfortunate as they tend to deter others from pro- 
ducing seed under conditions where success would be reasonably 
certain. For this reason it is important to have in mind the con- 
ditions which bring about failure or success with the alfalfa seed 
crop. 



REQUIREMENTS FOR ALFALFA SEED CROP. 

A thin stand is essential and the lack of this perhaps more than 
anything else has been the cause of many of the failures to produce 
satisfactory crops of seed. It is perhaps most essential to have the 
plants far enough apart on the ground so that each plant may 
develop without contact with its neighbors. In this way each plant 
will present a semispherical mass of blossoms to the sunlight, where- 
as, if the plant were crowded there would be room for only rela- 
tively few blossoms at the top of the plant. The undulating surface 
of a thin alfalfa field in bloom has about twice the area of blossoms 
as does a thick stand where the blossoms can exist only on the tops 
of the plants. The accompanying illustration shows a plant grown 
isolated from its neighbors and bearing its pods over the entire 
plant rather than merely at the top. 

Importance of a Relative Shortage of Water at Seed Setting 
time: — If there is an abundance of water present in the soil by 
irrigation or from rains at the time the seed is supposed to be 
setting, failure will be almost certain. In other words, it is neces- 
sary to have a period of relative drought at this time, as otherwise 
the succeeding crop of stems will come on and develop at the 
expense of the seed crop. "With the soil relatively dry, however, 

15 



the basal shoots to form the next crop will be unable to start up 
and as the result the small amount of water which is available will 
be used by the seed crop instead. It has often been a matter of 
common observation that in such sections as eastern Kansas, where 
as a rule there is too much rain for a successful seed crop, that in 
years so dry that the corn crop fails there will be a very large seed 
crop on the alfalfa fields that are left to stand for seed. Experiences 
such as these give us a hint as to w^hat conditions must be provided 
for the best possible crops of seed. In other words, sections of the 
country where there is a hot summer drought, or in irrigated 




Pig. 6. — Heavily seeded alfalfa plant grown near Washington, D. 
C, where the climatic conditions are much more unfavorable to the 
production of alfalfa seed than in the semi-arid regions. (Brand and 
Westgate — B. P. I. Circ, 24, U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



sections where there is apt to be a shortage of water at the second 
crop, offer special advantages for alfalfa seed production. 

Hot Weather Necessary for Seed Production. — For some cause 
alfalfa will not set seed in cool weather and for this reason the sec- 
tions which are relatively warm during July and August afford the 
best possibilities as regards the temperature for alfalfa seed setting. 

Which Crop to Leave for Seed. — In deciding which crop to leave 
for seed the conditions required for setting a good crop should be 
carefully considered and that crop left stand which will most nearly 
receive these ideal conditions. As a rule the first crop does not 
produce a good seed crop. This is partly because the plants are 
uneven in ripening and partly because there is apt to be too much 
moisture in the soil and too little warm weather for the best results. 
In the north and in the higher altitudes the second crop may be 
matured so late that the cold nights of August will injure the seed 
prospects, and on the other hand the disadvantages of the saving of 
the first crop may be great. This will necessitate the clipping of 
the first crop quite early to even up the stand and bring on the 
second crop at the time the hottest weather of summer may be 
expected. A very good rule is to figure on the number of cuttings 
of hay normally to be secured in the section, and then let the next 
to the last cutting stand for seed. That is, if three crops are usually 
secured, it is best to let the second crop stand for seed. 

Whether to Cut for Hay or Seed. — As a general rule it can be 
determined when the plants are in full bloom whether or not it 
will pay to allow the crop to stand for seed or not. If the blossoms 
blight and fall without setting more than four or five pods per clus- 
ter, or if heavy rains come at blooming time, it is usually useless 
to expect a seed crop, and more profit will be obtained by cutting 
promptly for hay. When the basal shoots for the next crop are 
observed to be starting, this generally means that the seed pods will 
blight and fall and the seed crop be a failure. 

The points brought out in the above pages indicate the fact 
that in the humid sections or where the rainfall is more than thirty 
inches a year but little can be expected of alfalfa seed production. 
This is extremely fortunate for the drier sections of the country, 
as it gives such sections a veritable monopoly of the seed-producing 
business and furnishes a very valuable crop, which can usually be 
turned promptly into cash. Since the methods of producing alfalfa 
seed vary in the irrigated and non-irrigated sections, these two 
types of localities will be considered separately. 

PRODUCING ALFALFA SEED UNDER IRRIGATION. 

One of the advantages which irrigated sections offer to the 
alfalfa seed producer is the fact that the moisture supply is under 

17 



control. This is a most important consideration owing to the special 
requirements of the alfalfa seed fipM for just the right amount ot* 
water at the time the seed is setting. The only drawback from the 
standpoint of the alfalfa seed producer is the fact that the relatively 
small areas of land that can be irrigated make the land extremely 
valuable for other purposes, which while not always netting more 
than would a good seed crop, yet are somewhat more certain as 
to their yields. 

Irrigated sections not possessing good transportation facilities 
by reason of great distance from railroads, offer especially good 
possibilities for alfalfa seed production, since the produce of an 
entire field may be transported at a comparatively small cost. 

There also exist numerous localities where there is sufficient 
water for irrigating purposes up to early or middle summer. These 
sections are exceedingly well adapted to the production of alfalfa 
seed as the relative shortage of water after July first is just what 
the seed-producing alfalfa plants need for the best development 
of seed. In this way the alfalfa fields bring in good revenues in 
spite of the shortage of water, whereas, if hay alone or other crops 
were to be produced, the yield of the same would be materially 
reduced. 

In supplying water to an irrigated alfalfa field which is to be 
allowed to stand for seed, the idea is to give it just enough water 
to enable it to make good, but not too rapid growth up to the 
blooming period. After this blooming stage is reached, there should 
not be sufficient water in the soil to enable the basal shoots to 
start to make the next crop, as this would ruin the seed crop. It 
will usually be sufficient to give one irrigation shortly after cutting 
and this should last until the seed is harvested. However, in soils 
not retentive of moisture, it may be necessary to give a second 
irrigation when the plants are about a foot high or twenty days 
after cutting. An irrigation at blooming time is practically certain 
to ruin the prospects for seed. 



METHODS OF IRRIGATION. 



In irrigating an alfalfa seed producing field, care should be 
taken not to give certain parts of the field overly heavy applications' 
of water, as this will be apt to materially reduce the prospects for 
seed on these parts of the field. For this reason the flooding system 
from ditches, which is in rather common use throughout most of 
the alfalfa sections of the West, and the check system much used 
in California are not ideal in this respect, as the portion of the field 
at the intake is apt to be flooded too much if the further stretches 
of the field or check be allowed to receive a sufficient supply. To 
overcome this objection the method of irrigating by shallow furrows 



across the field is often to be recommended, as this allows of a rapid 
and light irrigation and permits the water to be controlled to a 
much greater degree of certainty than by either of the flooding sys- 
tems just mentioned. 



HARVESTING THE ALFALFA SEED CROP. 



If the alfalfa plant ripened all its seed at once as do wheat and 
corn, it would not be difficult to determine just when the seed crops 
should be harvested. Unfortunately the pods never ripen with abso- 
lute uniformity and the cutting must be done during a time when the 
greatest number of pods are in the proper condition. This will mean 
that a small percentage of the pods are so ripe as to shatter badly, 
while a corresponding percentage are too green to have matured 
seeds. A good rule is to cut when about two-thirds of the seed pods 
are brown in color. 

There are numerous devices for cutting the seed crop, but the 
underlying principle is to get it into bunches and thrashed with 
as little handling and consequent shattering as possible. The most 
primitive method is to cut the plants with a mowing machine and 
rake in windrows and load on the wagons the same as though the 
crop were being cut for hay. This is not to be recommended, as 
much of the seed is lost in this way. It is a much better plan to 
have some sort of dropping attachment on a mowing machine or 
to use a self-rake reaper. One attachment on the ordinary mowing 
machine is shown in the accompanying illustration. 

This consists of a slat-box at the rear of which a board can 
be lifted, allowing the accumulated plants to slide off the slat teeth 
at the bottom. It is usually advisable to mow the alfalfa while 
the dew is still on in the morning, and get it into shape to leave 
on the field as soon as possible to avoid shattering. When the seed 
crop is ripe most of the leaves have fallen and the stems are com- 
paratively dry and on this account it is possible to put the alfalfa 
into cocks very soon after cutting. This prevents bleaching of the 
seed and unless heavy rains occur the inside of the cock is not apt 
to be damaged. In sections where it is desirable to leave the cocks 
.standing for any length of time in the field, heavy muslin shock 
covers may be recommended. These should be forty inches square, 
with a stone, one-half of a horse-shoe or a ball of cement attached 
to each corner. A great deal of shattering can be avoided if the 
cocks are made large enough so that two good pitchers can place 
the entire cock on the rack at once. It is very desirable to have a 
rack bottom made of matched flooring with an extra board placed 
around the outside to hold in the seed. A large canvas can also 
be utilized to catch the fallen seeds at the bottom of the rack. 

If a self rake reaper is used the bunches can be nicely placed 
out of way of the horses and machine. Three or four of the bunches 
should be placed together to prevent bleaching and reduce the 

19 



danger from rain. In very dry sections where there is no danger 
from rain, alfalfa may, if necessary, be cut with a header, leaving 




Fig. 7. — Mowing machine with droppei' attachment in operation in 
a field of alfalfa in cultivated rows in western Nebraska. The rows in this 
case are one-half mile long. (Brand and Westgate — B. P. I. Giro. 24 — U. 
S. Department Agriculture. 



the alfalfa in windrows across the field, to be removed within a 
week or two after harvest. An ordinary grain binder can be used 
either with or without the binder attachment. If the bundles are 
bound they may be readily shocked and can also be stacked the 
same as are wheat bundles. 



INJURY TO THE ALFALFA SEED CROP BY RAIN. 



Attention has already been called to the injury of the seed of 
the alfalfa crop if a rain comes at the blooming period. The rain 
may do almost as much damage to the seed crop if it comes when 
the newly-cut crop is fully expttsed to the elements. For this reason 
it is important to so handle the crop as to reduce the danger from 
rain to a minimum. A single rain is not especially injurious to the 
alfalfa if it is in cocks, but a long period of wet weather will cause 
the seeds to sprout and will greatly injure the appearance of the 
seeds which are not actually destroyed. The alternate wetting and 
drying of the seed pods even from ordinary dew will sometimes 

20 



cause the pods to burst and lose a considerable portion of their seed. 
Considerable care must be taken in stacking to prevent heating. 
The stems pack very closely and will be apt to heat even w^hen 
apparently nearly dry v^hen stacked. With some farmers it is a 
practice to mix grain straw with alfalfa hay to permit it to be 
stacked a little greener than would otherwise be possible. As a 
usual thing alfalfa may be stacked in from four to six days after 
cutting if it has been allowed to cure in the windrows or in small 
cocks. If cured in large cocks more than a week may be necessary. 
Alfalfa is ready for stacking several days before it will do for 
threshing or hulling from the field. If alfalfa is stacked it must 
be borne in mind that the relative absence of leaves on the stems 
make the stack less able to shed water than where alfalfa hay has 
been stacked. For this reason it is desirable to provide some sort 
of a cover for the stack. Long hay, straw, millet or even a load of 
freshly cut alfalfa hay may be used to top off the stack if it is not 
possible to provide a tarpaulin. If seed is desired for fall sowing 
it is usually necessary to hull or thrash either from the field or 
very shortly after stacking, as otherwise the alfalfa in the stack 
will go into a sweat which will make the pods so tough that the 
seed can be removed from the hulls only with great difficulty. If 
the seed is not desired for immediate use or sale the stack should 
be given good protection from the rain and thrashed or hulled late 
in the fall when work is slack. The methods described are those 
practiced in the alfalfa seed producing sections of the West. Much 
more primitive methods are to be observed in parts of Asia where al- 
falfa has been grown for untold centuries. Much of the Turkestan 
alfalfa imported into this country is thrashed out on outside thrash- 
ing floors by oxen and horses. A layer of the heavily-seeded alfalfa 
plants are spread over the floor for a depth of about a foot and 
horses or oxen are then driven around the alfalfa covered enclosure 
until the greater part of the seed has been shattered. The straw 
is then pitched away and the seed freed from dust by throwing 
it into the air with shovels and allowing the winds to blow away 
the lighter particles. These conditions, however, will not last long, 
as the American method of using special machines is being adopted 
by them, as it is possible to save a much greater portion of the seed 
and the product is rendered of a much better grade. 



IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCING PRIME ALFALFA SEED. 

With proper precautions No. 1 alfalfa seed may be procured 
with but little more expense, than second quality seed and the price 
will be much better. It is also important that the light seeds and 
the weed seeds be removed. This can be accomplished with a 
good fanning mill before selling. It is often the practice of a number 
of local dealers to fit up an alfalfa cleaning room for the use of their 
farmer patrons. In other instances farmers may club together and 
obtain a fanning mill and the power for operating the same. In 
this way the seed of an entire locality may be uniformly graded and 

21 



will command a relatively higher price than if each lot had to be 
graded separately, or if the second quality seed were bulked with 
that of the first quality. Prime alfalfa seed is of a light yellow color, 
with a slightly greenish cast. The seed which is of a brown dead 
color is usually low in vitality and reduces the selling quality of 
the seed. In localities where it is the practice to bulk the seed of 
a number of farmers it is important that poor lots of seed should 
be sold separately and not bulked with the good lots, as the grade 
of the seed will be reduced considerably more than the value of 
the poor lots of seed. One advantage which the "Western farmer 
has over his European competitors in the alfalfa seed producing 
business is the relative freedom from obnoxious weeds if he exercises 
reasonable care. Dodder is probably the worst weed with which 
he has to contend, as this is quite difficult to clean out from the 
seed entirely if it is present, and a very small percentage of the 
dodder seed in alfalfa is dangerous, owing to the rapidity with which 
a single dodder plant spreads from plant to plant. The illustration 
on page 8, (Fig. 3) shows a number of weed seeds which are usually 
found in imported alfalfa seed. The dodder and dock are sometimes 
present in the American grown seed. Foxtail and lamb's quarter 
are also apt to be present in seed produced in the western part of 
this country. In the Great Plains area, Russian thistle is often 
present, and this seed may be found in some of the alfalfa seed 
secured from these regions. It is quite difficult to entirely remove 
it from the alfalfa seed. 



YIELD OF ALFALFA SEED. 



The yield of alfalfa seed secured in this country ranges from 
nothing up to twenty bushels per acre. A yield of two bushels per 
acre is usually considered necessary to pay expenses, while from 
three to four bushels per acre may be considered a fair average 
over considerable sections. In certain sections under very favorable 
conditions yields have been known to run as high as twenty bushels 
per acre. The conditions, however, for such yields must be ideal 
and it is a study of the conditions present when such yields are 
secured that serve to indicate the best possible conditions for the 
production of an alfalfa seed crop. At Chinook, Montana, little 
attention had been paid to the production of seed until one year 
when there was a great shortage of water for irrigation. The 
ground was so dry that the hay production was apparently hardly 
worth cutting and many farmers let the crop stand for seed. The 
result in many instances was enough seed to more than pay for 
the ground upon which the alfalfa was growing. This clearly shows 
the necessity of a relative lack of water at the time of seed setting 
and offers a hint to parties located in irrigated sections even where 
there is no shortage of water at this period. 

22 



ALFALFA SEED PRODUCTION IN SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 



Certain parts of the semi-arid regions offer special facilities 
for the production of alfalfa seed. These sections comprise part 
of the Great Plains extending from Texas to South Dakota, where 
the rainfall averages from 14 to 25 inches annually. Where the 
rainfall is less it is insufficient for the proper development of the 
plants to enable them to set seed and v^here the rainfall is greater 
than 25 inches the seed setting is apt to be greatly reduced by 
rain. Other semi-arid regions which offer promise in alfalfa seed 
production are parts of New Mexico, Utah, Eastern Oregon and 
Washington. Alfalfa seed production is always more or less of a 
gamble where the moisture conditions are not under perfect control 
and it must be borne in mind that seasons unfavorable to the produc- 
tion of seed may occur at any time. If, however, the alfalfa is 
planted so that it can be given surface cultivation in order to 
conserve moisture if the drought be too severe, failure is much less 
apt to result in the unfavorable years. 



ALFALFA IN CULTIVATED ROWS FOR SEED IN SEMI-ARID 

REGIONS. 



Almost every grower of alfalfa seed has noted that the isolated 
alfalfa plants are usually loaded with seed. Instances have been 
noted where single plants produced enough seed to make fifteen 
bushels per acre if the plants were grown singly in hills 30 inches 
apart each way. This indicates the possibilities of the method, 
although in actual practice no such yields can be expected. The 
method of growing alfalfa in wide cultivated rows so that the 
plants may be cultivated the same as corn, is comparatively new in 
this country, although it was advocated more than a hundred years 
ago in England, where hay alone was desired. Since this phase of 
the industry is so new rather detailed instructions will be given, as, 
if the results obtained by the few pioneers who have gone into this, 
can be repeated by everyone, the semi-arid sections of the country 
will come to be the principal source of alfalfa seed in this country 
and give in addition a probable surplus for export to less favorably 
situated portions of the world. 



23 



PREPARING THE SEED BED FOR CULTIVATED ALFALFA 

ROWS. 

The preparation of the ground should be such as to rid it as 
far as possible of weeds and weed seeds, as the young alfalfa plants 
in the dry regions are very slow in growth at first and no intertillage 
is possible until they are large enough to prevent them from being 
covered up by the cultivation. It is also necessary to provide a 
seed bed very well firmed either by settling or rolling and in the 
drier sections of the semi-arid regions summer fallowing for the 
entire preceding season may be necessary to insure sufficient mois- 
ture in the ground to provide for the quick germination of the 
seed. This summer fallowed land must not be allowed to grow up 
to weeds and should be harrowed frequently enough to keep the 
weeds down, and in any event should be harrowed after each raia 
in order to break the crust which would otherwise allow the soil to 
dry out. The soil mulch thus secured will reduce the loss of water 
by evaporation and in the following year will place at the disposal 
of the young plants a considerable proportion of the two years' 
rainfall. 

In the northern sections, where spring planting is advisable 
on account of winter-killing of fall planted seedlings, surface tillage 
must be continued until seeding time. If the ground has been 
planted to corn or cane and given good cultivation the preceding 
year it may be unnecessary to summer fallow. 

In the Great Plains country, where spring seeding is also 
advisable, the ground should be harrowed and rolled immediately 
after plowing, especially if the plowing is done in the spring. If 
fall plowing is practiced the natural settling of the land will do 
much toward bringing it into proper condition for the young alfalfa 
plants. In Utah and in the southern part of the Great Plains area 
the fall plowing may be left unharrowed until the following spring. 
Rough plowed land in the winter time usually holds a larger pro- 
portion of rain and snow than if it has been harrowed. 

Dr. W. J. Workman, of Ashland, Kansas, has developed a meth- 
od which is giving very good results on buffalo-grass sod. A 
16-inch sod plow is used to cut a furrow 21/2 inches deep through 
the sod, a stirring plow following immediately in the. furrow left 
by the Ijreaking plow and leaving a furrow 8 inches deep. On the 
next round the breaking plow puts the strip of sod in the bottom of 
the deep preceding furrow, where it is completely covered by the 
new soil turned up by the stirring plow. The harrow is kept at 
work to smooth and firm the ground as fast as it is turned, and 
the alfalfa is seeded with the grain drill while the soil is still moist. 
This method possesses the special advantage of allowing the alfalfa 
seed to be put into the ground practically free from weeds or weed 
seeds. 

24 



PREVENTING DRIFTING OF SOIL IN ALFALFA ROWS FOR 
SEED IN SEMI-ARID REGIONS. 

If the ground is so sandy as to drift or blow during high winds 
it is a good practice to sow alternate rows of oats or barley and 
make these rows run at right angles to the direction of the worst 
winds. The first cultivation of the alfalfa plants will destroy the 
grain, which should not in any case be left long enough to injure 
the young alfalfa plants. Another method is to sow the alfalfa 
between rows of high cut thickly seeded sorghums or kafir com. 
The disadvantage of this method is the danger of covering up the 
young alfalfa plants when the sorghum or kafir corn stubble is 
plowed up in cultivating. Still another method is to seed the alfalfa 
in shallow listed furrows running at right angles to the direction 
of the prevailing heavy winds. These furrows should be shallow 
or occasionally heavy rains would be apt to cover the young plants. 
If this method is used it will probably be necessary to seed the 
alfalfa either with a garden drill or with a grain drill by making 
the necessary changes in the plate holes. The ridges made by the 
lister will also prove efficient in catching the snow during the pre- 
ceding winter and spring harrowing will lower the ridges if they 
are too high at planting time. 



DISTANCE BETWEEN ALFALFA ROWS FOR SEED. 



The best results have been obtained by sowing the seed in rows 
about three feet apart. In the drier sections 42 inches is none too 
narrow, but in any event the rows should never be less than 28 
inches apart or there will be difficulty in cultivating them. If an 
ordinary grain drill with shoes 8 inches apart is used, four out of 
every five holes may be stopped up. This will make the rows 40 
inches apart. On the other hand if three out of every four holes are 
stopped up the rows will be 32 inches apart. 



RATE OF SEEDING ALFALFA IN CULTIVATED ROWS. 



When the plants are grown they should average about a foot 
apart in the row. They must, however, be considerably closer thai: 
this at first, as many of the plants are apt to succumb to the 
unfavorable conditions. Satisfactory results have been secured in 
seeding the alfalfa with an ordinary grain drill so regulated that 
it would sow 12 pounds of seed per acre if all the holes were in 
operation. Since, however, four out of every five holes are to be 
stopped up, only about 21/2 pounds of seed will be sown per acre,, 
by this method. The stand in cultivated rows should be about as 
thick as rows in ordinary drilled alfalfa fields where the rows 
are usually about eight inches apart. It will usually be quite diffi- 

25 



cult to make the grain drill seed the alfalfa slowly enough. This 
difficulty may be overcome by mixing corn chop with the alfalfa 
seed or by reducing the feed in the grain drill with strips of 
leather. In any event the drill should be first tested on bare ground 
with the shoes not touching the ground. In this way it is possible 
to note the rate at which the seed is being dropped and to properly 
regulate it. 



TREATMENT OF ALFALFA IN ROWS THE FIRST SEASON. 



The well settled moist seed bed which is to be provided for the 
best growth of alfalfa unfortunately furnishes the same ideal con- 
ditions for the rapid development of the weeds. Several cultivations 
are necessary even the first season to hold the weeds in check. A 
two-row cultivator provided with narrow shovels or bull tongues 
is best for this work. A small box sled or good fenders should be 
attached to the cultivator so as not to cover up the young alfalfa 
plants. The rows should not be ridged up, as this will interfere 
with the mowing of the plants later on. The stand will be thicker 
the first season than in the subsequent seasons. Some of the plants 
are destroyed by cultivation and the less vigorous plants are killed 
by the droughts of summer or the cold of the first winter. Unless 
the plants are so thick as to crowd one another no thinning should 
he done by cross harrowing while the plants are still small. Exper- 
ience indicates that the best growth may be expected if the plants 
are not clipped the first season, especially if they do not come into 
bloom and start to set seed. If the latter condition prevails it 
may be necessary to clip high with a mower. 



TREATMENT OF ALFALFA IN ROWS AFTER THE FIRST 

SEASON. 



During subsequent seasons the treatment will not differ much 
from that of the first season. At the beginning of the second season 
the plants should not average more than four to the foot. These, 
however, should be reduced by cross disking or otherwise until 
when the plants are fully grown they may be a foot or even more 
apart in the row. There should always be a noticeable space 
between each plant. If the thinning is done with a hoe or mattock 
it is often desirable to do this when the plants are beginning to 
set a crop of seed, as then the imdesirable individuals can be elim- 
inated and the heavy seeders kept. Cross disking will thin the 
plants very readily and is generally best where the work is done 
on a very large scale. The first clipping should be so timed as to 
bring the time of seed setting in mid summer or slightly later, when 
the most favorable conditions for seed production are present. 
Where the seasons are short, this first clipping must be made while 

26 



the plants are still very small. It will usually be well for persons 
with an experimental turn of mind to undertake some experiments 
along this line to obtain definite information. One row may be 
given an early clipping and then left for seed; another a later 
clipping and still another left for seed after the first crop has been 
cut for hay at the usual time. In this way the experience which 
would take a number of seasons will be obtained in one year. The 
methods of harvesting are not essentially different from those em- 
ployed in the irrigated sections. 



POSSIBILITIES OF SEED PRODUCTION IN CULTIVATED 
ROWS IN SEMI-ARID SECTIONS. 



Since this method promises to be adapted to sections where 
thick broadcasted stands of alfalfa produce at best very light yields 
of hay too much must not be expected of such a field for alfalfa 
seed. That is, if three bushels of seed per acre can be secured on 
cheap short grass land the method will pay abundantly. The 
results thus far obtained show that this method gives promise in 
Utah, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Nebraska and also 
South Dakota. Yields of seed to the rate of five bushels per acre 
have been obtained. It is suggested that persons who are interested 
in this, try it out on a comparatively small scale until they see just 
what it will do under their conditions. Such an experiment should 
be surrounded by other alfalfa or be of sufficient size so that the 
grasshoppers will not ruin all the stand. 

It is expected that machinery now in use in most communities 
can be adapted to the growing of alfalfa seed in rows. Those under- 
taking the work will be pioneers in every sense of the word and to 
them will fall the work of inventing new types of machines to suit 
the needs, and upon these will depend for a large extent the 
practical success of this method. The secret of the success of this 
method lies in the fact that the isolated alfalfa plants produce the 
heaviest crops of seed, coupled with the power of the farmers in 
the semi-arid regions to regulate the supply of moisture by surface 
tillage, thus bringing about just the conditions required for the best 
success in this line. 



ALFALFA AS A HAY PLANT. 



It is estimated that 80 per cent of the alfalfa of the country is 
utilized in the form of hay. The number of cuttings varies from 
eight in the extreme southwest to only two in the extreme northern 
and semi-arid sections. Three cuttings per season may be taken 
as a fair average the country over. In very dry sections, however, 
one cutting may be all that can be secured in dry seasons. In good 

27 



growing weather alfalfa will usually grow nearly an inch per day, 
and usually 30 or 40 days in good growing weather are all required 
for it to reach a growth for a good crop of hay. 



TIME OF CUTTING ALFALFA FOR HAY. 



The general rule as to the time of cutting alfalfa is to mow 
it just as it is coming into bloom, or when about one-tenth in bloom. 
Feeding experiments performed in several of the State experiment 
stations show that the feeding value is higher when the alfalfa 
is cut in early bloom. Experiments at the Kansas Experiment 
Station show that with hay cut when only one-tenth in bloom, the 
protein content, the muscle building part of the hay was 18.5 per 
cent, while with that cut when one-half in bloom, the protein con- 
tent had become 17.2 per cent, and when cut in full bloom contained 
only 14.4 per cent of protein. At the Utah Experiment Station in 
an experiment extended over a period of five years it was found 
that hay cut when in full bloom produced 562 pounds of beef annu- 
ally to the acre, while that cut in early bloom produced 706 pounds 
per acre and the hay that was not cut until one-half the blooms had 
fallen produced only 490 pounds of beef per acre per year. From 
this experiment it will be seen how important it is from the feeding 
standpoint to cut the alfalfa early enough. Another good indication 
as to the time of cutting is the appearance of the basal shoots at 
the base of the old stems. These are to form the next crop, and 
the cutting should not be delayed after they are more than an 
inch in length, as otherwise they will be clipped off and the next 
crop greatly retarded. In case of dry weather, however, these 
basal shoots do not form early and in no ease should the cutting 
be delayed after the early bloom if. the best cutting of hay is 
desired. 



METHODS OF HARVESTING ALFALFA HAY. 



Methods of harvesting vary a good deal in the different parts 
of the United States. The underlying motive in each section, how- 
ever, is to get the hay to the feed lot, the barn, or the stack with 
the least possible amount of handling and exposure to the weather. 
In the Western States, where the rainfall is relatively light, the 
problem of obtaining a prime quality of hay is much less difficult 
than in the humid sections, where the rainy weather often makes 
first quality of hay an impossibility. In the great alfalfa sections 
it is usually the practice to start the mowers in the morning and 
rake the hay in the windrows the following day. The hay is then 
cocked or is stacked or baled direct from the windrows as soon as 
the hay is sufficiently cured. The stacking can usually take place 
in two days after the hay has been raked, but at least three days 

28 



must elapse before it is in condition to bale. The raking, however, 
begins as soon as the leaves are wilted, or while the stems are 
still green. It may be cocked as soon as the stems are what is 
known as "half dry". It may be stacked when the moisture can 
no longer be twisted out of the stems. It is not in condition for 
baling, however, until the stems will break under heavy twisting 
in the hand. 



MACHINERY FOR MAKING ALFALFA HAY. 

There has been an increasing tendency to introduce machinery 
which will enable the alfalfa to be put up on as large a scale as 
possible, and with the least amount of hand labor. Mowing ma- 
chines cutting a swath six or eight feet in width are sometimes used 
on the large alfalfa fields. The rakes may be the usual dump rakes 
or they may be the side-delivery rakes, which leave the hay in 
a continuous windrow parallel with the swath. In this latter 
condition it is then in proper position to load on the rack with the 
hayloader or to be gathered with sweep rakes, buck rakes or "go- 
devils" as they are sometimes called. At the barn, hay forks or 
stackers do away with the necessity of much of the hand pitching. 
With them it is possible to lift 100 to 500 pounds of hay from the 
load and drop it in the desired place on the stack or in the mow. 
In this way with proper attention to curing in the field the loss of 
the valuable and and nutritious leaves is reduced to a minimum. 



IMPORTANCE OF LEAVES FOR HAY. 



One of the worst dangers to be guarded against in the whole 
process of alfalfa hay making is the loss of the leaves due to shatter- 
ing. Although but two-fifths of the total weight of the alfalfa 
plant is in the leaves, yet three-fifths of all the protein, or muscle- 
making part of the alfalfa plant is contained in them. To put it in 
another way, it requires 100 pounds of stems to contain as much 
protein as is found in 45 pounds of the leaves. Analyses have 
indicated that the leaves are even richer than bran for feeding pur- 
poses. Much of the loss of the leaves, mostly occuring during har- 
vesting operations, might be saved by proper attention to the curing 
of the hay. If the hay be cocked or put into large windrows when 
the leaves are wilted but are not yet dry, the moisture in the stem 
passing into the leaves will cause the hay to sweat, and in this way 
the whole plant becomes gradually wilted and the leaves are ren- 
dered pliable on ultimately drying, instead of being brittle as when 
dried out completely in the sun. The author has harvested crops 
of alfalfa where by giving careful attention to the curing process 
the entire crop was removed without leaving any leaves behind on 
the ground. On the other hand he has observed fields where the 
loss from the shattering of the leaves was probably 25 per cent. 

29 



When one considers that the shattered leaves are really as valuable 
or. even more valuable than good wheat bran, the importance of 
saving them must appeal to any interested observer. 

ALFALFA HAY GREATLY INJURED BY RAIN. 

Unfortunately a good deal of the protein or nutritious portion 
of the alfalfa hay can be dissolved by rain, just as is so much sugar. 
As much as 40 per cent of the protein content of hay has been lost 
by a two weeks' exposure, aggregating a total of less than two 
inches in experiments conducted by the Colorado Experiment 
Station. The protein content of the hay was reduced from 18.71 per 
cent to only 11.01 per cent. This shows clearly one of the handicaps 
to the success of raising alfalfa hay in sections where heavy rainfall 
is apt to be great during the alfalfa season. Even a slight rain 
destroys the green color of the hay which is so characteristic of 
the western-grown hay cured without having been wet. In this 
respect the States having a light rainfall have a great advantage 
over the States having an abundance of rain during the summer 
months. 



STACKING ALFALFA HAY. 

The use of hay forks and stackers in almost all of the alfalfa 
districts makes it possible to build very large stacks. The large size 
stacks indicated in the illustration have a decided advantage over 
the smaller stacks as a smaller percentage of the hay is exposed 
to the weather, which usually injures the outside of the stack to 
a depth of several inches. 




Fig. 8. — Stacking alfalfa in the West. The new crop is stacked on 
the top of the preceding crop by the use of large hay forks. (Westgate — 
Farmers' Bui., 339 — U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 

30 



Alfalfa hay does not shed water readily and if barn protection 
or a shed roof cannot be provided it is commonly the practice to 
cover the stack with canvas or with grass hay or millet to shed the 
water. A load of green alfalfa placed upon top of the stack will, 
on drying, form a fair protection from the rain, since the leaves 
will lay folded one over the other somewhat after the fashion of 
shingles on a roof. The fact that alfalfa suffers so severely from 
being wet makes it highly important that care be taken to protect 
the alfalfa stacks from any rain which may fall before the hay is 
used. It is also desirable that the stack be built upon some sort 
of a foundation, especially if water is apt to run under the stack, 
as otherwise a considerable portion of the base of the stack may 
be rendered practically worthless. 

BALING ALFALFA HAY. 

When alfalfa is fed on the farm where it is raised, there is 
little need for baling, but where it has to be transported to any 














i^ 


■ "^"^ ' 




^^.mr 


^*=- 







. ^ I 



|!^'. 
3^-, 



Fig. 9. — Baling alfalfa hay. The sweep-rake, or "go-devil", is used 
to bring in the hay from the windrow. (Westgate — Farmers' Bui. 339. 
U. S. Dept. Agriculture). 



31 



considerable distance it is usually more economical to use the bales. 
While the baling is quite often done from the stack it may be done 
from the windrow, as shown in the accompanying illustration. 

If baled from the windrow, great care must be taken to have the 
hay at just the right stage of curing, so that it will not be so damp 
as to heat and spoil or on the other hand be so dry as to shatter its 
leaves. The ordinary bale weighs about 90 pounds, although 
specially large bales are made for transportation to the mining 
regions. Where the alfalfa is shipped by ocean, it is sometimes 
doubly compressed, thus bringing them to about one-half the bulk 
of the ordinary bale. These bales on being released usually turn 
to powder, so great has been the pressure exerted upon them. 



SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION OF ALFALFA HAY. 



When alfalfa hay is stacked or put away in the barn too green 
or wet it is apt to heat and may, in extreme cases become so heated 
as to take fire and burn. When alfalfa is observed to be heating, 
care should be taken to admit no air into the heating mass, which 
will then be. unable to burn for lack of oxygen. If this heating 
process is not carried too far it results in what is known as brown 
hay. In this form it is well relished by stock, and apparently loses 
none of its feeding value. Some persons make brown hay by 
stacking alfalfa while it is still quite green. It is usually done at 
some risk of over-heating, especially at the hands of one unaccus- 
tomed to the process. 



ALFALFA FOR ENSILAGE. 



The readiness with which alfalfa hay may be cured and handled 
in the alfalfa sections makes its use as ensilage usually unnecessary. 
In the humid sections, however, the first crop is apt to be injured 
by rain unless it can be put up green in the form of ensilage. When 
the first crop is utilized in this way it is usually put up alone. The 
third cutting, however, is usually ready about the same time as is 
corn, and the two may be put in together. If put in the silo alone, it 
is usually too slimy to make an ideal stock feed. Considerable losses 
are liable to occur around the edges of the silo and for this no 
effective remedy has been found. It is usually necessary to use a 
deep silo for alfalfa, to make possible sufficient pressure to prevent 
spoiling. The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station found that 
ensilage made from the whole alfalfa showed a loss of 10.7 per cent, 
while the chopped alfalfa was damaged to the extent of 7.3 per 
cent. 



32 



ALFALFA AS A SOILING CROP. 



Alfalfa is an ideal plant for soiling purposes in that it may be 
cut and carried to the stock continuously during the growing season. 
The readiness with which it renews its growth after each cutting, 
as well as its value as a feed, makes it especially valuable for this 
purpose. Handled in this way, there is practically no danger from 
bloat, and in this respect it is superior to pasturing. The field or 
patch from which the daily cuttings of green feed are made, should 
be sufficiently large to be cut over every four or five weeks, as under 
such conditions the part of the field first cut will be ready for the 
second cutting by the time the last of the field or patch has been 
fed. 



ALFALFA FOR PASTURE. 



Alfalfa should not be pastured during the first or second season 
of the growth, and even an old field should be grazed rather spar- 
ingly, if a good stand is to be maintained continuously. The last 
crop of alfalfa is often pastured off instead of being cut, as at this 
season of the year the grazing pastures are apt to be very short. 
When pastured in the autumn, care should be taken not to pasture 
too closely, as otherwise the plants will go into the winter with 
little growth upon the crowns, and in this way they will be unable 
to stand the winter as well or be able to store up food material for 
a vigorous early growth the next spring. Where the trampling 
of the stock has been heavy, the packing of the ground can be 
overcome by disking. 

All kinds of live stock may be pastured upon alfalfa. Horses 
and sheep graze more closely than do cattle and are consequently 
somewhat more destructive to the stand. If hogs are pastured on 
alfalfa they should have their noses ringed in order to prevent 
them from rooting up the entire plants. An average field of alfalfa 
will support continuously during the growing season about ten large 
hogs to the acre and will enable them to make good gains, especially 
if a small quantity of grain is fed in addition. It is usually the 
custom to allow one pound of grain a day for every 100 pounds 
live weight of the hogs. 

The principal drawback of pasturing cattle and sheep on 
alfalfa is their tendency to bloat. This danger can be reduced 
to a minimum by not allowing the cattle to go on the alfalfa when 
hungry or when the alfalfa is wet. When the animals become 
bloated, several remedies are usually at hand for the trouble. A 
large wooden bit an inch in diameter may be tied in the mouth or 
a piece of rubber tubing may be passed through the mouth to the 
first stomach. Should neither of these remedies be at hand or prove 

33 



effective, or if the animal is too far gone to make them practical, 
the paunch may be punctured or tapped to allow the escape of the 
gas. For this purpose a trochar, such as is used by veterinarians, 
is the best, but if this is not at hand a small-bladed knife may be 
used to make the incision about six inches in front of and slightly 
below the left hip bone. A large straw or quill may be used to allow 
the escape of the gas. If a quill is used, it is best to cut off the 
bottom and cut a small hole at the upper portion of the quill where 
the feather begins. The feather end should be left attached, as it 
will prevent the quill from working into the hole and becoming 
lost. If the straw is used a string should be tied around it or some 
other protection taken to prevent its being worked down into the 
hole by the breathing of the animal. 



ALFALFA MEAL. 



There have been a great number of mills established during the 
past ten years for the grinding of alfalfa hay into meal. This meal 
is nearly as valuable as bran for feeding purposes and is con- 
venient for city trade for feeding to poultry or to horses where it 
is not convenient to feed the hay for any reason. In the alfalfa 
sections where hay is readily procured, it is doubtless more econom- 
ical to let the animals do the grinding of the hay for themselves, 
as the feeding value of the alfalfa is not greatly increased by the 
grinding. The animals will make practically as good gains on alfalfa 
hay as on the alfalfa meal. 

The meal is often mixed with a cheap grade of molasses in order 
to make it more nearly a balanced ration, as when fed alone it is 
too rich in protein for the most economical results with most animals. 
The cost of transporting alfalfa meal is considerably less than that 
of the baled alfalfa, as the freight rates are less. Such grains as 
corn and oats are sometimes crushed and added to the alfalfa meal. 



FEEDING VALUE OF ALFALFA. 



Alfalfa is One of the most highly nutritious and most valuable 
of feeds for all classes of farm animals either in the form of green 
alfalfa or as hay or alfalfa meal. The following tables taken in 
part from a book called "Feeds and Feeding" by Professor W. A. 
Henry indicates the results of experiments to determine the rela- 
tive value of the different kinds of feeds. 



34 



Average pereentage composition of alfalfa and other forage crops.. 



Kind of forage. 



Cowpea hay- 
Fresh alfalfa 
Fresh clover 
Alfalfa hay . 
Clover hay . . 
Timothy hay 



Number 






of analy- 


Wateri Ash. 


ses. 






Per Cent 


Per Cent 


23 


71.8 


2.7 


43 


70.8 


2.1 


21 


8.4 i 7.4 


38 


15.3 6.2 


68 


13.2 4.4 


8 


10.7 


7.5 



Protein. 



Per Cent 

4.8 

4.4 

14.3 

12.3 

5.9 

16.6 



Crude 
fiber. 



Per Cent 

7.4 

8.1 
25.0 
24.8 
29.0 
20.1 



Nitrogen 

free 
extract. 



Per Cent 

12.3 
13.5 
42.7 
38.1 
45.0 
42.2 



Ether 

extract 

(fat). 



Per Cent 

1.0 
1.1 
2.2 
3.3 
2.5 
2.2 



* In part from Henry's "Feeds and Feeding," Appendix. 



Average percentage of digestibility of alfalfa and other forage crops. 

/ (Experiments with ruminants.) 



Kind of forage. 



Fresh alfalfa 
Fresh clover 
Alfalfa hay 
Clover hay . 
Timothy hay 
Cowpea hay 



Number 

of experi 

ments. 



2 

2 

28 

46 

26 

2 



Protein. 



Per Cent 

81 
67 
73 
55 
48 
65 



Crude 
fiber. 



Per Cent 

45 
53 
43 
49 
52 
43 



Nitrogen 

free 
extract 



Per Cent 

76 
78 
66 
69 
63 
71 



Ether 

exaract 

(fat). 



Per Cent 

52 
. 65 
54 
53 
57 
. 50 



Digestible nutrients in alfalfa and other forage crops. 



Kind of forage. 



Dry mat- 
ter in 100 
pounds. 



Fresh alfalfa 
Fresh clover 
Alfalfa hay 
Clover hay . 
Timothy hay 
Cowpea hay 
Wheat bran 
Shelled corn 



Pounds. 
28.2 
29.2 
91.6 
84.7 
86.8 
89.3 
88.1 
89.1 



Digestible nutrients in 100 
pounds 



Protein. 



Po 



unds. 

3.9 

2.9 

11.0 

6.8 

2.8 

10.8 

12.2 

7.9 



Carbohy- 
drates. 



Pounds. 
12.7 
14.8 
39.6 
35.8 
43.4 
38.6 
39.2 
66.7 



Ether 
extract 



Pounds 
0.5 
0.7 
1.2 
1.7 
1.4 
1.1 
2.7 
4.3 



35 



In order to make the above figures appear more intelligible, the 
actual value in dollars and cents per ton has been figured out as 
given below. The price of protein, carbohydrates and fats vary 
considerably from season to season and in different localities. The 
values per hundred pounds assigned in the present calculation are : 
fats, $1.12 ; starches, $0.64 ; protein, $6.74. It will be noted that the 
feeding value of alfalfa hay is slightly more than double that of 
timothy, although in many places timothy hay sells for more than 
does the alfalfa hay, since it is more of a favorite with livery stable 
proprietors. 



Actual feeding value of different feeds based on amount of digestible nutrients 



FEED 


Value 
per ton 


FEED 


Value 
per ton 


Fresh alfalfa 


$ 7.00 

5.96 

20.16 

14.12 


Timothy hay 


$ 9.80 




Cowpea hay 


19.76 


Alfalfa hay 


Wheat bran 


22.80 




Shelled corn 


20.16 









ALFALFA FOR SHEEP. 



Alfalfa is an ideal hay for sheep, as it is fine and the sheep can 
readily eat both the leaves and stems. There is some loss from bloat 
if the sheep are pastured on alfalfa fields. It is often the practice 
in the mountainous regions of the West to graze the sheep on the 
wild grasses in the mountains during the summer and then drive 
them to the protected valleys during the winters, where they are 
fed on alfalfa hay. The "Wing Brothers, of Mechanicsburg, Ohio, 
demonstrated the worth of alfalfa hay for lambs when they showed 
that spring lambs cost them $6 per hundred pounds when alfalfa 
was not used In the ration, as compared with $2.50 per hundred 
pounds when alfalfa formed a large part of their feed. It is usually 
customary to cut alfalfa hay for sheep just as it commences to 
bloom instead of when one tenth in bloom, as is usual for dairy 
cattle, or when from one-half to one-third in bloom, as for horses. 



ALFALFA FOR BEEF CATTLE. 



Alfalfa forms the best of roughage for fattening cattle, as it is 
quite a concentrated feed and the animals are able to_ consume 
sufficient quantities to make large and rapid gains. Owing to its 
bone and muscle building power it is also valuable to feed young 
growing stock before the fattening period begins. 



36 



The Utah Experiment Station showed in an experiment covering 
five years that much more beef can be obtained per acre if the hay 
is cut in early bloom. They were able to average 490 pounds of 
beef per acre where the hay was not cut until one-half the blooms 
had fallen, and they made 562 pounds of beef annually per acre 
when the alfalfa was cut in full bloom. By cutting it in early bloom 
they were able to average 706 pounds of beef per acre each year. 
In other words there was an increase of 25 per cent in the beef 
produced per acre in favor of the alfalfa cut in early bloom, as 
compared with that cut in full bloom. At the Nebraska Ex- 
periment Station where cattle were fed a full ration of corn 
and alfalfa they made 2.41 pounds gain per day. When they 
fed on corn with prairie hay they made only 1.48. This differ- 
ence is usually more than the difference between success and failure 
in feeding a yard of fattening cattle. One large feeder in Nebraska 
states that he is able to secure alfalfa hay at $5 a ton for his steers 
and that at this price he could not afford to feed timothy or prairie 
hay even though it were delivered free to him. 



ALFALFA FOR DAIRY CATTLE. 



In order to produce the best flow of milk, dairy cows require 
feeds very high in protein. This can be supplied by feeding non- 
leguminous roughage as corn-fodder and a grain ration of such 
concentrates as bran and corn meal. These concentrated feeds, 
however, are expensive, and can usually be replaced by a feed like 
alfalfa, especially in the alfalfa growing districts. The Tennessee 
Experiment Station showed that it was possible to replace each 
pound of wheat bran in a cow's ration by feeding her li/^ pounds 
of alfalfa. The tests showed that with alfalfa at $10 a ton and wheat 
bran at $20 the saving effected by substituting the alfalfa for the 
wheat bran was $2.80 for every 100 pounds of butter and nearly 
20 cents for every 100 pounds of milk. The saving is often greater 
than this in sections where alfalfa hay can be easily raised and 
where concentrated feeds are more expensive. 



ALFALFA FOR HCfGS. 



Alfalfa is fed to hogs usually in the green state, either as pas- 
ture or as a soiling crop. It has been found, however, that hogs 
can be brought through the winter when fed nothing but alfalfa 
hay, and will come through in good farrowing condition. Wherever 
possible brood sows should be fed alfalfa either as hay or in the 
green state during the latter portion of their period of gestation. 
There appears to be no other crop which will give such good results 
in making bone and muscle in both the sows and the pigs. 

37 



The Kansas Experiment Station showed in an experiment that 
an acre of alfalfa produced 776 pounds of pork during a season 
when the pigs were pastured on the same. These figures compare 
favorably with the 706 pounds of beef which the Utah Experiment 
Station secured by feeding hay cut in early bloom for fattening 
steers. Although the number of hogs fed alfalfa on any one farm 
is not usually large, yet the practice is so common in most of the 
alfalfa sections that the aggregate use of alfalfa for hogs is very 
large and should be much more universal than is even now the case. 



ALFALFA FOR HORSES. 



Alfalfa may be fed to horses either green or as hay. When 
necessary, horses have shown themselves able to do heavy work 
throughout the summer with nothing but green alfalfa. Liverymen 
are generally opposed to the use of alfalfa for their horses, owing 
to its laxative effect. It has often been stated that the kidneys are 
unduly stimulated by alfalfa, but experiments which have been tried, 
do not seem to bear out this statement. There are many cases on 
record where alfalfa hay and green alfalfa have formed a large 
part of the work horse's feed for years without there being a notice- 
able injurious effect. In addition to being a good feed for working 
animals it is very good for young growing stock, especially horses. 
Care must be taken, however, to avoid feeding too much hay to 
colts, as coarseness of bone may be developed. The accompanying 
illustration shows a portable feeding rack, which is convenient for 
feeding alfalfa either green or as hay to horses or cattle which 
are allowed to run loose in a yard. 



Fig. 10. — A portable alfalfa feed rack which avoids the necessity of 
unloading the hay in the feed yard. This device is also applicable to 
other kinds of hay. (Westgate — Farmers' BuL, 339 — U. S. Dept. Agri- 
culture. 

38 



ALFALFA FOR POULTRY. 

Alfalfa is a good feed for all kinds of poultry. If the chickens 
and turkeys are given the range of an alfalfa field during the 
summer they will thrive by eating both the alfalfa and insect 
enemies found in the alfalfa field. The plants may also be cut and 
fed green. In the winter alfalfa may be fed as meal in a warm mash 
mixture, with an excellent effect in increasing the production of 
eggs. 



ALFALFA FOR BEES. 



The development of the honey-producing industry throughout 
the West has been made almost entirely in the sections where 
alfalfa culture has been extended. The heaviest yields of honey 
are secured in sections where there is an abundance of alfalfa. 
Honey produced from alfalfa fields is of very good quality. The 
fact that an alfalfa field will come in bloom several times during 
the season makes it possible for the bees to gather successive crops 
of honey during the year. 



ALFALFA IN MIXTURES FOR PASTURE. 



Although alfalfa is generally grown alone, there are exceptions 
to the general practice that indicate that its use in mixtures may 
be extended. Alfalfa fed or pastured alone is apt to be a richer 
feed that is necessary for a continuous diet for any kind of stock. 
For this reason it may well be used in connection with some of the 
tame grasses. The tendency of a pure stand of alfalfa to produce 
bloat when sheep or cattle are pastured upon it seems to be over- 
come if the stock are at the same time allowed access to the ordinary 
tame grasses, such as timothy, brome grass, red-top or orchard grass. 
An adjoining field of tame grass, upon which the cattle can feed upon 
being turned out at first, will answer this purpose, but it is usually 
best to have the alfalfa in a mixture with one or more of the staple 
tame grasses which are known to succeed in the section in question. 
A seeding of one-half alfalfa is to be recommended. "While in the 
East, orchard grass and meadow fescue may be used, it is usually 
advisable to use brome grass in most of the alfalfa producing 
sections of the Great Plains. This grass spreads by underground 
rootstocks and thus has a tendency to crowd out the alfalfa, 
especially when pastured without being cut for hay. 



39 



WINTER GRAIN IN ALFALFA FIELDS. 



In the Southwest the occurrence of much of the rainfall during 
the winter months, together with the mild winters, makes it quite 
possible to seed wheat or barley in a stand of alfalfa after the last 
cutting and harvest it at the proper stage for hay the next spring 
along with the first cutting of alfalfa. The grain crop has an addi- 
tional advantage in that it prevents the growth of troublesome 
winter seeds, which would otherwise detract from the value of the 
mixed hay the following spring. As a usual thing it is more difficult 
to obtain the carbonaceous or starchy foods in the Southwest than 
it is to obtain the feed high in protein, for this reason grain hay 
will often sell higher than alfalfa hay. The seeding of the 
grain in the alfalfa field has the further advantage of giving a 
mixed crop of alfalfa and grain hay, which often sells for more 
than the pure alfalfa. The method is especially recommended 
when for any reason the stand of alfalfa has become thin. This 
condition may be brought about by field mice, gophers or other 
enemies. The question as to how much grain should be seeded and 
disked in, depends on the thickness of the stand of alfalfa. "While 
this practice is not at all general, yet the marked success which 
it has met in the sections where tried, indicate that it might well 
be extended with profit to other sections where the conditions are 
similar. 



EFFECT OF ALFALFA ON THE LAND. 



Alfalfa is able to increase the fertility of the land in the same 
way as are the clovers and other leguminous crops. In this way 
they are able to increase the yields of the succeeding crops. The 
roots by means of the bacteria which live upon them add nitrogen 
directly to the soil and are also efficient because of their deep- 
feeding habit, which allows them to bring up other mineral fer- 
tilizers from the lower layers of the soil and thus render them 
available to the shallow-rooted crops which follow. 

The Wyoming Experiment Station showed that on irrigated 
land the effect of alfalfa was to increase the value per acre of the 
succeeding crops as follows: Wheat, $8 to $12 per acre; oats, $16 
per acre, and potatoes, $16 per acre. These increased gains wtc 
made without any additional cost in fertilizing the land, as the 
alfalfa had been cut regularly for hay for five years preceding. In 
Colorado and Nebraska the yields of corn are sometimes nearly 
doubled when immediately preceded by alfalfa. One 40-acre field 
just west of Alma, Nebraska, averaged 99 2-5 bushels per acre, 
while a measured acre in the field produced 114 bushels. This was 
immediately following alfalfa. The nearest field that had not been 
in alfalfa produced corn that season at the rate of 60 bushels per 
acre. 

40 



In Colorado the increase in the yield of wheat and truck crops 
is very marked when the land has been in alfalfa for a few years. 

The value of a successful alfalfa field is so great that there is 
always the temptation to keep on mowing it as long as paying crops 
are produced. The difficulty of getting rid of a stand of alfalfa as 
well as the slight uncertainty of a satisfactory new stand works 
against the use of alfalfa in ordinary rotations of the farm. lu 
the West the alfalfa field does not reach full maturity until the 
second or third year and except in certain regions, it is not cus- 
tomary to plow up the alfalfa until it has been in at least five years. 
In the humid sections, as in the East, the rotation period is shorter 
owing to the tendency of alfalfa to run out in from three to five 
years. With the gradual exhaustion of soil fertility in the West, 
however, alfalfa must come to be recognized as possessing great 
importance in the plan of rotations on the ordinary farm. Even 
at the present time a compound rotation is being recommended. 
This calls for allowing the alfalfa to remain in for from five to 
seven years and then producing successively a number of non-le- 
guminous crops, repeating certain crops if desired, for a series of 
years, after which alfalfa is again seeded down. 



ALFALFA IN SHORT ROTATIONS. 



The cost of establishing an alfalfa field makes it usually of 
doubtful economy to plow under the alfalfa at the end of the first 
or second year unless with the object of increasing the productivity 
of the land for some very profitable crop. In eastern Colorado the 
soils are low in nitrates and phosphates and as a consequence it 
is usually impossible to grow more than two successive crops of 
sugar beets, potatoes or cantaloupes on the same land. At the end 
of the second year in truck crops the land is put in wheat, to be 
followed by alfalfa, seeded with oats. The alfalfa makes a moderate 
growth the first season and at the end of the second season is turned 
under in preparation of another series of truck crops. In this 
section alfalfa is sometimes, but not usually allowed to stand for 
more than two years. 



GETTING RID OF A STAND OF ALFALFA. 



To one unaccustomed to plowing under a stand of alfalfa, the 
problem of getting the land in shape for the succeeding crop is 
apt to present many difficulties. In irrigated sections the land can 
be fiooded for two or three days during the growing period, and in 
this way the plants will be killed. The farmers of Eastern Colo- 
rado have practiced the growing of alfalfa in short rotations with 
their truck crops to such an extent that the difficulties of plowing 

41 



under an alfalfa field have been materially reduced. The usual 
method is to plow shallow in the fall, preferably with a riding plow, 
drawn by at least three steady horses. The plows are sometimes 
provided with a knife or cutting attachment on the land side of 
the plow to cut the roots near the outer edge of the next furrow. 
The fall plowing followed by harrowing, exposes the crowns and a 
small portion of the roots, to the weather. The following spring 
the land is plowed quite deep. The shallow plowing of the fall 
before prevents there being a great length of tap root in which 
reserve material can be stored and as a result the deep plowing 
covers them so deeply that they have not the strength to reach the 
surface. Deep plowing also prevents the cultivator teeth from 
catching on the alfalfa roots when cultivating the succeeding crop. 
In other sections throughout the west and elsewhere it is sometimes 
the practice to pasture very heavily the fall before plowing. This 
greatly reduces the vitality of the plants and exhausts the roots 
of their reserve material, so that it is comparatively easy to get 
rid of them by plowing. It is always essential to have the plow 
share very sharp and it is recommended that the share be so set 
as to be able to cut the roots without sliding off and away from 
them as is apt to be the case if the share is set sloping. Prof. 
P. K. Blinn, of the Colorado Experiment Station recommends certain 
modifications of the ordinary breaking or sod plow. The essential 
points to consider are : a long, strong beam to steady the plew; a long 
landside to resist the great cutting strain. It is often necessary to 
reinforce the beam with heavy iron to withstand the draft. The 
plow should be adjusted to cut a narrow furrow and the extra long 
share should lap a part of the last furrow to prevent the roots near 
the heel from slipping around. The next essential is a very sharp 
share, drawn thin and tempered so that it will not be brittle. A 
sharp share should be replaced each day and frequent filings during 
the day are necessary to maintain a keen cutting edge. The share 
should be long, heavy and well pointed, with a wide wing six or 
eight inches at the heel. The outside two inches of the share 
should be rolled so as to run flat and cut some distance ahead of 
the "lift" and thus avoid a dragging cut. 




Fig. 11. — Plow with an attachment for cutting the alfalfa roots at 
the outer edge of the succeeding furrow. (Westgate — Farmers' Bui., 339, 
U. S. Dept. Agriculture.) 



42 



WEEDS IN ALFALFA FIELDS. 

Alfalfa fields have been known to exist uninjured for thirty 
years or more where every condition was favorable; however, the 
appearance of enemies of one kind and another usually reduce the 
length of the life of an alfalfa field to seven years or less. Weeds 
present the most apparent drawback to the production of alfalfa, 
but these usually appear after some injury has been done to the 
stand. These are especially troublesome in those sections where 
there is considerable rainfall. The winter-growing weeds prove 
quite obnoxious in the southwest quarter of the United States, since 
they are able to make their growth while the alfalfa is dormant and 
unable to crowd them out as it is in the warm growing months of 
the summer. Foxtail grass, Russian thistle and tumble weeds are 
especially bad in the Great Plains area, while the wild barleys are 
perhaps the worst of all weeds in the southwestern quarter of the 
United States. These wild barleys make their growth during the 
winter and early spring and mature a short time previous to the 
'first cutting of alfalfa. In this way the hardened beards frequently 
ruin the first crop of hay. This is sometimes remedied by burning 
the first crop to destroy the grass seed. Another method is to cut 
the first crop very early, while the wild barley is still unmatured. 
This mixture of alfalfa and wild barley hay can be fed on the farm. 
Disking is usually the most effective remedy for weeds. Alfalfa is 
generally benefitted by the operation while the weeds are greatly 
injured owing to their branch root system, while the alfalfa pos- 
sesses a vertical tap root, which is not usually injured by the disks. 
Dodder is one of the worst weeds so far as alfalfa is concerned. 
The dodder seeds germinate in the ground and the young plants 
soon attach themselves to the alfalfa stems. As soon as the thread- 
like stem is firmly attached to the plant its connection with the 
ground withers and dies away. After this the dodder plant lives 
entirely on the alfalfa stems, spreading from plant to plant by 
means of its long, yellow, tendril-like branches. The young plants 
are illustrated in the accompanying figure. Dodder is very difficult 
to destroy when once established and as a consequence great care 
should be taken to prevent the sowing of alfalfa seed with dodder 
in it or of thrashing seed from plots infested with this plant. 
Grazing close with sheep has sometimes proven effective in holding 
the dodder in check. If there are only a few patches of dodder 
in the field it is often practicable to cut the alfalfa plants very low 
as with a hoe and remove them from the field. Gasoline torches 
have also been used to burn out these patches, but this is quite 
an expensive method. If a stand of alfalfa is very badly infected 
with dodder it may be necessary to plow up the alfalfa before the 
dodder goes to seed. The land should then be kept in cultivated 
crops for two or three years. The seed of two of the different 
dodders is illustrated in the cut on page 7. 



43 




FIG. 12. — Young alfalfa plants attacked by dodder. As soon as the 
dcdder thread fastens Itself to the alfalfa the stalk attaching it to the 
ground withers and dies. (Westgate — Farmers' Bui. 339 — U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture.) 



ANIMAL PESTS IN ALFALFA FIELDS. 

The gophers, ground squirrels, prairie dogs and mice are the 
worst animal pests with which the alfalfa plants must contend. 
These are troublesome, particularly in the western half of the 
United States, where they injure both the alfalfa stems and roots 
by eating and gnawing. The mounds of the gophers are troublesome 
when the field is mowed. Poisoning with some form of strychnine 
is usually the most effective remedy, although they may be held in 
check by traps and cats. 



44 



INSECT ENEMIES IN THE ALFALFA FIELDS. 

Grasshoppers are among the worst of the insect enemies which 
trouble alfalfa. These are worse in the arid and semi-arid sections 
of the West, where the alfalfa fields are usually the only succulent 
green growth for miles. The grasshoppers from extended areas 
are thus led to congregate upon the relatively small fields of alfalfa. 
A flock of turkeys is usually effective in holding the grasshoppers 
in check, but when they become especially numerous the device 
known as a ''hopperdozer" is to be recommended. This consists 
of a sheet-iron device on wheels, which is run over a field and catches 
the grasshoppers in the open oil-filled pan placed at the rear of the 
bottom piece of sheet iron and at the bottom of the vertical surface 
at the back of the device. Disking the field in late winter also tends 
to hold the grasshoppers in check, as this exposes the young hoppers 
to the early spring frosts and also to the attacks of birds which are 
usually hungry at this season of the year. This disking is also 
quite effective against the alfalfa webworm and any other insects 
which may pass the winter in the alfalfa field. 



Blister beetles and the army worm also prove troublesome at 
times when they appear in considerable numbers. The general 
practice is to cut the alfalfa immediately on the appearance of any 
such pests, when they will be forced to migrate or starve. There 
is a little black bee or wasp-like insect, which lays its eggs in the 
young alfalfa seeds. The insect then develops inside the seed just 
as the grain weevil develops in the kernels of grain. On careful 
examination the hole in the pod made by the female insect to lay 
its egg may be seen where this insect is proving troublesome. The 
brood of newly-developed insects appear after the seed is harvested 
and may be seen crawling over the top of the seed, having left the 
hollow seed behind them. This insect has been observed in nearly 
all the alfalfa seed producing sections of this country and it is 
probable that many of the failures to produce a satisfactory seed 
crop may be laid up against this inconspicuous, but exceedingly 
destructive enemy. This insect is known as the clover and alfalfa 
seed chalcis fly. 



DISEASES OF THE ALFALFA PLANT. 

There are two types of diseases which affect alfalfa, namely, 
those which exist on roots and those which attack the stems and 
leaves. In Texas, the root rot is especially destructive and has been 
observed to prove troublesome as far west as Arizona. This disease 
appears to be similar or identical with the cotton root rot and does 
much to prevent the successful production of alfalfa over a consider- 
able portion of eastern and southern Texas. This disease spreads 
in widening circles in various places over the field. In this way 

45 



the almost complete destruction of the stand is gradually brought 
about as the disease progresses. No practical remedy has thus 
far been obtained and the land so affected must be kept out of 
alfalfa or cotton for several years. Of the diseases which attack the 
leaves and stems, the leaf-spot disease is the most important. This 
disease appears as minute black spots on the matured alfalfa leaves. 
The leaf rust somewhat resembles the leaf spots except that the 
spots are reddish in color and usually give a reddish powder when 
rubbed. The most effective remedy against these alfalfa leaf 
diseases is to mow the field when they begin to prove destructive. 
This mowing destroys most of the spores or little seed-like bodies, 
by which the disease is spread and at the same time enables the 
plant to put out a vigorous second growth, which quite often is 
able to largely overcome the next attack of the disease. 



SUMMARY. 

Although alfalfa is such an ancient forage crop in the world 
there is still much to be learned regarding its requirements. It 
has been raised in the West for two generations and yet it may be 
said that the seed production industry is still in its infancy. By a 
proper study of the conditions affecting the yield of the alfalfa 
seed crop the yield may be greatly increased in most of the Western 
sections, which will always enjoy a monopoly of the seed-producing 
business in this country. The rapid extension of alfalfa to sections 
of the United States where it is impossible to produce seed, promises 
to maintain the price of the seed at a high level for years to come. 
Other things being equal, that seed will be the most successful, 
which is free from weed seeds and for this reason special precautions 
should be taken to maintain the quality of seed, especially in sections 
that wish to become recognized centers for the production of first- 
class alfalfa seed. 

Alfalfa is probably the oldest forage crop in existence and yet 
is a comparatively new crop in many sections of this country. It 
is adapted to a wide range of soils, but under conditions not per- 
fectly suited to its growth it demands careful attention to the 
details of its management. Its long tap root enables it to bring 
up plant food from the deeper layers of soil which are out of reach 
of shallow-rooted crops. In this way and also by reason of the 
nodules on its roots it is able to add to the fertility of the surface 
layers of the soil. This materially increases the yields of any grain 
or truck crops which may follow. Besides being of great value 
as a soil improver it produces several cuttings each season of the 
most nutritious hay which is relished by all classes of live stock. 
It increases the flow of milk in the dairy herd, as well as serving 
to maintain the egg production of the farmer's flock of hens. It 
can also be utilized to good advantage as a feed for hogs, either 
green or dry, as hay. It thus not only works for nothing, but has 

46 



justly been said to pay for the privilege by increasing the fertility 

of the land upon which it grows. 

I 

The heavy yields and the readiness with which it may be grown 
in the regular alfalfa sections have led to somewhat wasteful prac- 
tices which are being corrected as the value of the hay becomes 
recognized. The importance of harvesting the hay so as to retain 
the leaves on the stems is especially important as the leaves are 
worth twice as much for feed as the stems. More care might also 
be taken to prevent damage by exposure to the elements after 
being stacked. Those unacquainted with the alfalfa as a hay and 
pasture plant have difficulty in realizing the value of this crop 
to American agriculture, especially in the West, where other hay 
and forage is scarce, especially in winter. By its use whole valleys 
have been converted into homes for worthy people who could not 
otherwise have established homes in those sections not adapted to 
the crops commonly grown in the Eastern States. In passing 
through the arid sections of the country the alfalfa fields will often 
be the only green stretches visible in a journey of hundreds of miles. 
The coming census will doubtless show how rapid has been the 
extension of the area of successful alfalfa culture in the United 
States. The greatest percentage of increase will probably be in 
some of the Eastern States where the acreage is small, but the 
greatest actual increase in acreage will presumably be in those 
Western States which have recently had large valleys brought 
under irrigation and seeded largely to alfalfa. 

In the preceding pages the statements have been conservative 
rather than otherwise. ' Many of the remarks hight be more opti- 
mistic. The alfalfa is really a very wonderful plant and too much 
can hardly be said in its favor. It merits the most careful attention 
and consideration from all parties who have land suspected of being 
adapted to this crip. The repeated cuttings which may be secured 
during a single season place this crop in a class by itself. Perhaps 
no other crop requires such a variety of different treatments, 
depending upon the special locality in which it is groM^n, as does 
alfalfa. The lack of a complete understanding of all essentials 
for its successful growth is all that keeps it from being grown upon 
a much more extensive scale than is at present the case. 

There are many sections of the United States where alfalfa is 
a staple crop and in many other sections it should become a much 
more staple crop than it is at present. In both classes of sections 
there is much which has to be learned in regard to the best methods 
of handling the crop. In the sections where it is a staple crop the 
points to be learned are the best methods of curing the hay, how 
to preserve the life of the stand and under what conditions the 
best seed crops may be secured. In sections where alfalfa is not 
yet a common crop and where seed is produced with difficulty, the 
main points to be learned are the essentials to the production of a 
satisfactory stand. These call for more or less experimenting in 
the preparation of the ground, time, rate and manner of seeding. 
In such sections, some special treatment of the stand is usually 

47 



necessary during succeeding years in order to enable it to maintain 
its vitality. The experiment may be on a small scale, but should 
always have a check plot which is given the ordinary treatment. 
This will serve as a definite b^sis of comparison. The experiment 
giving the best results can be applied to an increased acreage the 
succeeding seasons. In this way the experience which would other- 
wise require a number of seasons to procure can be obtained at 
the end of the first year. For this reason it would be a valuable 
addition to American agriculture if each farmer should undertake a 
small experiment even though it were to determine the relative 
merits of two kinds of treatment during a single year. With a 
number of such experiments under way in a community the com- 
bined results would not only be of value to those conducting them, 
but would also prove of great benefit to other interested parties in 
the adjoining localities. 



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